Search Results

We can question things in a positive way When you read 'What if...?', did your brain go to a negative next step to complete that line? It’s quite common. It seems the majority of us are wired to be cautious and many of us second-guess ideas, choices and decisions, employing our fears to highlight areas of caution and create reasons not to do, think or try things.   Wondering ‘what if’ isn’t a bad thing. In fact, using analysis of factors and outcomes helps us play through different aspects of a situation, find novel/better options and generate new insights. Asking ‘what if’ opens a door to possibilities, it “invites speculation and imagination to dance hand in hand”, according to ChatGPT. Quite poetic, really. Certainly powerful.   What if we took a different path? What if we dared to act on an idea or desire? What if it went wrong? What if we made a mistake? What if… is certainly a phrase loaded with potential, capable of generating both excitement (positive) and trepidation (negative). Glass half full or half empty? It’s both at the same time, but only because we choose to see it one way or another. In her blog Negative What Ifs Do Not Exist psychotherapist Claudia Lewis says negative what ifs come from a single emotion – fear. “ We feel scared and anxious and so we attach the fear to a future circumstance in an effort to control the outcome. What if the world ends? Well, it might…or it might not. And this is the problem with negative what-ifs. We are jumping into future time to put a negative outcome on an event that has not happened .”   My mother has a perpetually negative future view where fear and judgmental what-ifs are launched to discourage courage and replace it with caution…and the opportunity for judging if you ‘get too big for your boots’ or take a misstep. (Interestingly, her past view is equally negative with the frequently shared ‘I bet you wish you’d…’ but that’s for another day and blog). What if it goes wrong? OK, it could, but what if it goes right? Why does it feel like it’s harder to look at the positive and be brave? Or maybe that’s just me…but I suspect it isn’t.   If you leave your job, you can get another one. You got one before, so…the evidence suggests you can do it again. Thinking, ‘I might never get employed again,’ might be a real fear, but focusing on that, catastrophising in that way of extremes will keep you stuck and afraid. Instead, try asking:   What’s the worst that can happen?   And what if this terrible thing your negative side foretold did happen? Well, maybe not the end of the world, but something you fear, like changing job and worrying it will be the wrong move? What if you did make the wrong choice? It could happen, but you would deal with it because we are also hardwired to survive. And you’d have learned something you could use to make better calculations and decisions in the future.   In addition - plug for the value of career caching - you could boost the chances of it not being the wrong choice by identifying your why before you move, being crystal clear on what you think the move will bring you and being realistic about the opportunity and limits. Changing your job should be the outcome for change, not the reason.   Working through what-if questions aids exploration and discovery. Doing it with a professional (like me) who can help you identity and examine the right questions to ask – or uncover the ones you’ve been dodging but know you need to answer – really can turbo charge the process because they’ve walked this path before and know how to get off the what if merry-go-round of fear and indecision.   Unlike an enthused friend on a night out, a coach won’t tell you to just do it, throw caution to the wind and make it happen. But they will ask you questions. Some of my favourites include, ‘If you did do X, what’s the worst that could happen? And, what’s the best outcome?’ and ‘What do you need? What do you already have that could help you?’   Pondering and answering these questions can be hard. You have to recognise and challenge assumptions, but, equally, there’s an opportunity here to think and be more . Chat GPT knows the power of a positive what if: “It embodies the spirit of curiosity, urging us to peer beyond the veil of certainty into the realm of conjecture, embracing uncertainty as a canvas upon which we can paint our wildest aspirations.” I wouldn’t claim each coaching conversation with me goes into such heady realms, but we can ‘peer beyond the veil of certainty’ together and have a good poke about to see what is or could be there.   Asking yourself some what-ifs and facing the unknown (and unknowable) can take courage, and it can also lead you into some mental cul-de-sacs you’ll need to reverse out of. You may well rock the boat, but…imagine what it would be like if you never tried?  As brave, bold and brilliant Baz Luhrmann said, “A life lived in fear is a life half-lived.”   Do you want to live in fear? Wouldn’t you like to see your life glass as half full, not half empty?   What if you faced the unknown with a sense of wonder and openness to possibilities rather than fear? Imagine… What if…? Not everything is negative.   If you’d like to swap your negative what ifs for positive possibilities, why not book a free discovery call with me and let’s chat about what’s stopping you and what could happen if you didn’t let it stop you? Click on the Book a call button on the homepage, or email me at louise@careertherapy.co.uk Why not follow me for more confidence-boosting tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn   Louise Newton Instagram   @career_therapy_uk   Do you feel stuck? Check out my post on getting unstuck and moving your career (and life) forward. And i f you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the twice-monthly   Career Therapy Newsletter ? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support grounded in years of coaching experience...and real life. Image Unsplash+ in collaboration with  Alexander Mils

I’m speculating about what’s in the air because three clients have said something very similar in the last couple of weeks – they are choosing to be positive. Genius and seemingly endless source of superb quotes, Albert Einstein said, “The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.” It’s what we choose to believe. Glass half full or half empty. Same glass, different perspective, different choice. Is the glass half full or half empty? All three clients have experienced difficulties and faced challenging circumstances over the past 5 – 8 years. They each said that there were times when they were overwhelmed by what was happening to them, that there seemed to be no way out. I understand what they are saying because I’ve been there. I know what it feels like to think that you’re stuck, you have no power, no choices, that there is no way out, no forward path. So, what changed for me? My perspective. I found ways to take control and create options. I talked to a coach. I found my way out by looking at what I could change, the things I could influence…and what I could let go of. I took control, but equally, I accepted that I couldn’t (and shouldn’t try to) control everything. And, critically, I came to realise that I could choose how I acted and reacted. I also examined my limiting beliefs, including ‘I can’t leave my job, we need the money’. True, we needed money to live, but it was false that I needed to get the money by staying in a job that was squeezing the life out of me. Ten years ago, when I started my coaching practice, I saved this article by Liz Sterling in the Huffington Post on changing negative thinking into positive thinking and occasionally re-read it. It still makes me stop and think. The header sets out the two key requirements to change our perception and thinking patterns: We can change negative thinking into positive thinking and maybe free ourselves from the imprisonment of limited perception. It requires two main ingredients: awareness and enthusiasm. Awareness and enthusiasm. Intention and action. Being conscious, as I said, about making a clear choice, then embracing it and putting it into action. And knowing that we can change the way we think. We can choose a different perspective and shift our focus. Thinking about how our brains work and how we change our behaviours, there is sound data to suggest that we can change how we perceive the world and react to it. Neuroplasticity is the way the brain makes new connections between neurons and builds new networks in response to our experience of the world around us, the things we do, think and feel as responses. This ability to flex and grow new ways of responding enables us to rewire our brains to introduce new patterns of thinking and acting. It’s how we learn a new skill and get better at it. Self-directed neuroplasticity and resetting the agenda that we focus on can help us reprogramme our brain to change unhealthy thoughts about ourselves into healthy ones by intentionally shifting attention to positive ways of acting and thinking, helping us overcome limiting beliefs and self-sabotaging behaviours. Look at the power of CBT if you want to learn more . By making a conscious choice to do or not do something and repeating that positive choice starts to create a habit, build momentum and seed more positivity. It's a strategy I employed again recently during the seemingly endless stress of a house renovation that was running seriously late. Super-stressed, I sat and sobbed, which helped momentarily, but tears didn't make the work happen any faster. So, I made a bold decision - I decided to be jolly. It was life-changing. Seriously, it was. I just let it all go and stopped railing against the lack of control. I chose to believe that there would be an end and the house would be done (at some point) and that I needed to push where I could but accept I could not control the actions of others - as much as I might have wished to. Rather than putting all my energy into the lack of control I was experiencing and feeling the anger, despair and frustration that were my constant companions, I decided to be positive and found a new kind of control. Over me and what was happening. As a result, I was lighter. I slept better. I had clearer thinking - very helpful in scheming and negotiating to get the works done faster! And the house did get gone...eventually. So, in my experience, decide what you want to experience. To become more self-assertive or boost your confidence, take control of the negative voice and words you are using and intentionally replace them with positive ones. If you’d like to choose positivity but aren’t sure how to start, why not get in touch with me at Career Therapy? I offer a free intro chat where we can talk about what's happening and what you would like instead. Click on Book a call on the website, or email me at louise@careertherapy.co.uk Why not follow me for more tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn Louise Newton Instagram @career_therapy_uk James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, shares some useful insights on the benefits of positive thinking in this article . If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the twice-monthly   Career Therapy Newsletter ? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support grounded in years of coaching experience...and real life. Speech bubble photo by Alex Shuper on Unsplash Water glass photo by manu schwendener  on  Unsplash

Like the idea of the 'one' - do soulmate jobs exist? It’s astonishing how many people are striving for ‘the one’, that life-fulfilling, perfect job that will lead to everlasting career happiness. They are desperately searching for the answer, trying to figure it all out, to find a true calling and go on to live a fulfilled, happy life. But, like ‘the one’ in romance, does your soul mate, the perfect job, actually exist? Is there only one type of work on the entire planet that can complete you? And do people really have a true calling? When clients come to me and say, “I want to change my job”, and I say, “OK, what are you thinking?” there are some that know and some that don’t. That’s fine. But, almost half of those who don’t are searching for ‘the one’ – that elusive, previously undiscovered, perfect fit job that will bring them lifelong fulfilment, happiness and contentment. Oh, and it has to pay well. And not be too far from home. And offer good benefits. And some work-life flexibility. “Hmmm…” I say, “Bit tricky that one. Let me look in my treasure trove of ideal jobs and see what glittering jewel of perfection I can find for you.” I think a calling can exist. Some people find a profession they love or a mission that motivates them, that makes them feel fulfilled. But I think they are in the minority. When we dig into it, most people want work that, well, works for them. Challenging but not too difficult, interesting but not overly demanding, pays well, reasonable commute or hybrid option, good benefits, nice perks and some decent colleagues. But is that settling? Are we compromising on perfection? Is good (or good enough) sufficient to shower us with happiness and soothe us into working contentment? Should we instead hold out and search for perfection? From my experience, I think not. I think, like a life partner, a ‘good match’ job is what we should strive for. We should pursue something that works for us, makes good use of our skills, and helps us grow and do better. Something more realistic and attainable. And with that, we should accept that it won’t always be perfect. It will have some highs and lows, some wins and some compromises, but overall, we’ll reflect on what we’ve got and feel satisfied. Like people, jobs have imperfections. Those that do look amazingly perfect are often far too high maintenance to sustain a relationship with, or their perfection diminishes on close inspection. I don’t believe the perfect job exists. And, even if it did, I’m not sure it would stay interesting for very long. Perfection can get boring pretty quickly. And as with anything that looks good on the surface, the story underneath can emerge to show quite a different reality. If you’d like to stop chasing an unattainable dream job and focus instead on what will make you happy at work, why not try a session of Career Therapy? We can start with a free intro call to chat about what you are looking for and why it matters to you. Click on 'Book a call' anywhere on the site or email me at louise@careertherapy.co.uk to say hello. What’s stopping you? Don't wait for the perfect time...it might not exist. For more tips, tools and talks, follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram . And check out my post on how perfection drains your confidence . Brené Brown has talked about the damage that focusing on perfection can do. Her book, The Gifts of Imperfection , is a great read. If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the twice-monthly   Career Therapy Newsletter ? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support grounded in years of coaching experience...and real life. Photo by  Alexander Grey  on Unsplash

Done is better than perfect! “If I waited for perfection, I’d never write a word” — Margaret Atwood   One of the things I enjoy about my work is helping people move forward in their careers, but so often I hear people talking about being stuck because they are paralysed by perfectionism, procrastinating because 'perfect' is too hard to achieve. The fear of not achieving perfection is strong enough to prevent them from starting in the first place or, if they do manage to start, not getting things finished. And not finishing causes a confidence wobble, which starts the cycle of self-doubt and pushing for perfection again. But it is vital to understand that perfection drains your confidence. Perfectionism can be linked to feelings of inadequacy and often the need for approval from others. This need for validation is usually learned at an early age and runs deep, so it can seem hard to change. The need for validation makes it very difficult for perfectionists to accept mistakes or imperfections in their work or themselves. But what we need to remember is... Nothing’s perfect. Nobody’s perfect. Nowhere is perfect. Perfection is a myth. Whatever ideas the media may try to sell us with seemingly perfect families, pets, bodies, lives and homes, there is no such thing as perfection in people. We give ourselves such a hard time trying to be ‘perfect’ that we forget that being imperfect is who we are as people. And it makes us more interesting. Imperfection is the reality of our lives. And there is both serenity and beauty in celebrating that, as expressed in the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi . There are some good sides to pursuing perfection High standards : striving to achieve excellence and high-quality outcomes Motivation : driving for better performance and continually improving Creating beauty: I accept that perfection can exist in a moment, a feeling or an object But the negative aspects have a dramatic impact - fear of failure and anxiety, procrastination , burnout from the constant pressure and perpetual dissatisfaction . If we constantly beat ourselves up for not doing a work project perfectly, not having perfectly-behaved children or not having the perfect physique, we’re spending all our time criticising ourselves when surely there are enough other people in the world to do that for us! We need to be on our own side. Our friends and family are. Usually. They can often see the good in us as well as the bad and accept us for it. And it’s that wonderful combination that makes us all human, isn’t it? So why do we still hang on to the impossible ideals of perfectionism? There is a fascinating article in Medical News Today , in which Professor Paul Hewitt, professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, Canada and expert in the study of perfectionism, talks about one of his therapy clients: “He was a university student who was living with depression and putting himself under the pressure of getting an A+ on a course. After working really hard, the student achieved his goal and got the highest grade. He then proceeded to tell me that the A+ was just a demonstration of how much of a failure he had been. If he’d been perfect, the student reasoned, he wouldn’t have had to work so hard to achieve it.” How negative - and sad - is that? This is an extreme example, but I hear versions of this all the time with clients. How many of you get nine pieces of good feedback and focus on the one negative one? Aha, yes, I see you nodding and starting to formulate an excuse...but why? Why is it so hard (SO hard) to accept you did well? OK, it wasn't 10/10, but you did it. And you can learn from the feedback and get even better next time. But will it ever be enough? I often hear people call themselves perfectionists as if it’s a good thing, but aren’t they just hiding their perfectly natural flaws behind a facade of so-called perfection? Aiming for perfection is good, it makes things better, higher quality, more impactful...but there is a line. And that line is progress/action. Almost perfect and done = AMAZING Almost perfect but not quite, so it can't be released/shared yet = USELESS Procrastination is the default for many perfectionists because they’re waiting for that right moment when everything is in place and so they rarely finish things because...they just can’t. How can they if it isn’t the best that it can be? And I totally understand that. But how will you know when you are ready? How will you know when it is good enough? I often hear people saying that they’re waiting for the right moment to do the things that they have always wanted to do. This could be travelling the world, publishing their book, or even talking to that person they quite like, but the reality is that in most cases, that seemingly perfect moment will never come to pass. For example, how will you know: When your novel is ready? When it’s the perfect time to say hello? When you’re ready to leave your job and start your own business? And I get it. I totally get being a perfectionist because I used to be one (and still am in many ways). And there are a LOT of us, including the wonder that is Brené Brown, who said: "I’m a recovering perfectionist. For me, it’s one day at a time.” Like all perfectionists, I was focusing on the wrong things to move me forward because I was anxious, insecure and ultimately, afraid. It’s a dilemma that people like me (and Brené) have to deal with on a daily basis and it can be really challenging living with that fear. Writing this article is me pushing through that fear and hitting publish will be me facing the fear and doing it anyway. It doesn't go away, but it does get easier. Although I still battle with it, I’m now much more comfortable putting my work (and myself) out there. I realised you can grow your confidence ( read how ) and then I went crazy and launched Career Therapy on Instagram in 2024. How? In hindsight, it has been a combination of getting older, becoming more self-confident, caring less about what people think and being able to answer the question "What's the worst that can happen?” I'm out to encourage and nudge - not setting myself up to inspire in any lofty way, but this quote had quite a profound impact on me. “There’s no need to be perfect to inspire others. Let people get inspired by how you deal with your imperfections.” ― Ziad K. Abdelnour, Economic Warfare: Secrets of Wealth Creation in the Age of Welfare Politics. I'm out there, with my imperfections and it feels...good (ish). Scary, but liberating. The fear and anxiety haven't gone away, but I see a reel and sometimes feel happy enough to give myself a cheeky wink! So, what’s more important? Waiting for the right moment when everything is perfectly in place to do something? Or taking that first step today in the knowledge that although it may (and will probably) not be perfect, you will at least be on your way to getting out of your stuck place where your fear is keeping you. And who knows, things might even get better over time while you’re aiming for ‘perfection’ and doing the thing that you want to do on the way... I think reflection and contemplation can be powerful things, but sometimes you just have to put your big girl pants on and get on with things. Do something today, or nothing will happen tomorrow. So, what are you going to do today? Or even right now? If you feel stuck or paralysed by perfectionism, there is a way forward. I know, because I found it - and I am confident I can help you find it too. Why not get in touch for a chat? I offer free intro calls to explore what's going on and how we can work together to fix it. Click on 'Book a call' anywhere on the website, or go directly to my diary: Calendly . You can also email me at: louise@careertherapy.co.uk What's stopping you from taking the first step? Think how good it would feel. Why not follow me for more tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn   Louise Newton Instagram   @career_therapy_uk If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the twice-monthly   Career Therapy Newsletter ? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support grounded in years of coaching experience...and real life. Photo by  Brett Jordan  on Unsplash

Electrify your energy and ignite your passion Passion. It’s not a word you’d necessarily associate with being professional or career growth. But we all need a bit of it. Why? Having the power of passion for career growth is a strength. What does passion have to do with being happy at work, getting your career back on track or finding the right job? Well, a lot. A whole lot, in fact. When you have passion, you know what inspires and motivates you. You have purpose, which gives you focus and direction. And knowing all of that means you know your strengths. And knowing your strengths means you feel confident and capable. Powerful, right? Passion has a lot to do with being happy at work and finding the right job or taking the next step. It can help you recharge your career, reconnect with things that excite you and enrich your working experience. Passionate is a buzzword you see (too) often in job ads and on CVs, but it’s often just a bit 'meh' and lacking substance. On a CV, who isn't going to say they are passionate, dedicated and hardworking? No one is going to write 'mildly interested, invested a bit and sometimes lazy' are they? One would hope not. If you want to include passion on your CV and LinkedIn, show the proof of how you demonstrated your passion and what outcome it drove or resulted in. If you talk about being passionate, be...passionate. I was hosting a mock interview with a client and with a deadpan face and very flat voice, they responded to a question with "I'm very passionate about..." but their face and voice said differently. We have to convey our passion with a bit of animation - eyes that sparkle and a face that lights up - even if it's just a little. If not, it's counterproductive. If you genuinely have passion, you have an edge. It’s more than enthusiasm and energy. Enthusiasm bounces around and can obscure the path ahead, but passion is honed and enduring. It’s powerful. It can take you places in life and in your career. You know passion when you see it in someone, even if you’re not sure what it is. It helps you make connections and it’s so attractive to other people – including recruiters, hiring managers, colleagues and leaders. They know you are genuine, that you’ll go the extra mile, give your all and stay motivated. Do you know what your passion is? Do you know how to harness it to give you an edge? A session of Career Therapy with me as your coach can help you connect with and articulate your passion in a way that is authentic to you. It can also show you just how powerful passion can be to help you grow your confidence and recharge your career. Let's explore how you can find or reignite your passion with a free intro chat. Click on 'Book a call' anywhere on the website or email me: louise@careertherapy.co.uk . And don't forget to check out other posts for more impactful career tips. What's stopping you? Why not follow me for more tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn   Louise Newton Instagram   @career_therapy_uk For questions to challenge your thinking and ignite your passion, here's my article on the Superpower of Knowing Your Why and this blog from Kira Day , Founder at the Passion Centre. If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the twice-monthly   Career Therapy Newsletter ? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support grounded in years of coaching experience...and real life. Photo by  Hal Gatewood  on  Unsplash

Is your ability to play and move forward wrapped in constraints? Do you feel stuck? I heard it described as ‘marinating in your stuck’ which sounds icky. It feels uncomfortable and unclean to me when I hear it. How about you? We often marinate because we feel we can’t get unstuck. We think the issue is too big / too hard / too much or we stay stuck because we can’t pinpoint what the issue actually is. We wrap constraints around our ability to press play or move forward. Like millions of others, I admire Seth Godin’s ability to say in just a few words what many of us are thinking. In April, his blog on Other people’s problems  set out why it’s easier to find solutions to others’ problems. In summary: 1.        “Because we're unaware of all the real and imaginary boundaries our friends have set up. If it were easy to solve the problem, they probably would have." 2.        “Because resistance is real. Solving the problem means moving ahead, confronting new, even scarier problems. It might be easier to simply stay where we are, marinating in our stuck.” You aren’t stupid or lacking because you can’t get unstuck. Resistance is real. That’s why coaching helps. It lends another perspective, helps you recognise what is holding you back and what the scary really is, and how to tackle it. A coach isn’t there to solve your problems for you, but they are there to shine a light on them and help you recognise what the barriers are and work out how to remove them...or at least haul yourself up to and over them. If you feel stuck, why not try tackling the problem with someone who knows how to help you, someone who can reach out a hand to help you scramble up and over the barrier and stop you from bashing your face against it. Ready to stop marinating? Why not start by booking a free intro call to explore how a little Career Therapy can help you? Click 'Book a call' anywhere on the website or email me – louise@careertherapy.co.uk  to say hello and find out more info on how working together can help you stop marinating in your stuck. And whilst you are on the website, check out the article on ' Want more confidence? Take control .' Why not follow me for more tips, tools and talks to boost confidence : LinkedIn   Louise Newton Instagram   @career_therapy_uk What’s stopping you? If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the twice-monthly Career Therapy Newsletter ? It's packed full of thoughtful career support grounded in years of coaching experience...and real life. Photo Getty Images for Unsplash+

When is your time to shine? In the last decade, there has been an increasingly common theme in the US media and self-development of the productivity benefits of getting up early . I mean really early. Like 5am early. And a few years back during the early pandemic, competitive ‘productivity porn’ became more prevalent than ever. Now I like to think of myself as a reasonable person who is quite effective but also likes to sleep. I can't be my best self and shine if I haven't slept - not many of us can - so my honest response to getting up that early if you don’t need to is ‘Why!?’ I’m just not a believer in the philosophy that getting up earlier will make you a more confident, more successful, more productive, shining version of you.  I don’t like getting up early. It’s not my time of day to shine. It belongs to others and I’m very happy for them to keep it and use it so they can shine. I’m a 'toward afternoon' person. I come alive after 11am with a slow burn that grows to a strident burst after 2pm and shines until 7 or 8pm, sometimes later if I’m in the zone. I know this about myself. I use it to my advantage when scheduling because I’m far more confident and impactful at those times of the day.  Yes, I have to get up early sometimes. And yes, I have to fit into the 9-5 days and I’m OK with that. I can turn it on for a client pre-work call because I will always show up for my clients when they need me. But if I'm doing a presentation or pitch, or writing and creating, you won’t get my best, most sparkling and confident self at a 7am meeting. I find power in knowing this about myself and how I work. It’s liberating. I can be strategic around scheduling because, knowing when my more confident times are, I can guarantee I will shine. If you want to look confident? Pick your shine time. I structure my time to maximise my day and my ‘shine time’. If I have presentations, need to write or create, I know I can have more impact in four hours in the afternoon than if I spend 9-1 at my desk staring at a blank page sucking on a supply of green tea and knowing deep down it's a waste of time. What the mornings are good for is helping people. I hold almost all of my coaching calls after 10am when I know I can be a good sounding board, using my curious brain to bounce around ideas and my experience to offer guidance and help generate solutions. Helping my clients understand their confidence clock means they can get the best from our work together too. Whilst working to our shine time might not be possible in all situations, try to work with, not against yours to ensure you feel you are at your best when it matters. So, think about what you say yes to and when. If you want to look confident, think about when it's your time to shine. If you'd like some help learning when you are most confident and how to maximise your shine time, why not book a free intro call and let's chat. And take a look at this article on building confidence by taking more control . Click on 'Book a call' anywhere on the website or email me at  louise@careertherapy.co.uk to say hello. You can also follow Career Therapy on Instagram and LinkedIn for tips, talks and tools to boost your confidence. What's stopping you? If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the twice-monthly   Career Therapy Newsletter ? It is packed full of thoughtful career support grounded in years of coaching experience...and real life. Photo by Vincent LaVigna  on Unsplash

You need the key to ATS to understand how to unlock it and work with it Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are software designed to help employers and recruiters find the most relevant applicants for a position. They scan and store CVs, sort applications, build shortlists and move selected applicants through to the next step of recruitment – with a real person. They’re automated and efficient but also narrowly focused, relying on keyword matching, with no interpretation of the depth or breadth of your experience. This means you might be the most qualified and relevant candidate, but your CV might not get picked up. So, how can you navigate ATS to get your CV read by a real person? You can’t ‘beat’ ATS. You need to understand it and work with it. I’ve read multiple articles with tips on how to beat the system and the truth is that you can’t. There is not just one ATS, but hundreds, and different companies use different Applicant Tracking Systems for their own purposes. On top of that, every ATS works slightly differently. However, like many things in life, although we may not be able to beat it, we can understand it, adapt to it and learn how to use it to help us achieve our goals. How can you optimise your CV for ATS? You may not be able to beat it, but there are ways that you can make your CV succeed within the ATS framework. Think of it as learning how to become noticeable to ATS. For example: Maximise keywords Recruiters and hiring managers use job-specific keywords in their ads. These keywords are then used within the ATS where the system is automated to look out for them and select CVs that contain them. So, study the job ad to identify those keywords and phrases then incorporate the majority of these into your CV – and cover letter if you do one. It doesn’t need to be festooned like a Christmas tree with these keywords – you’re right in thinking it still needs to scan well when a person gets to it at some point – but it does need to be keyword-rich so it gets passed on to that human stage. Think enough baubles to get noticed, not so many that it falls over. Tailor your CV every time Are you tailoring your CV to each targeted role? If not, you should be. A generic, one-size-fits-all CV is a waste of your time and the recruiter’s. Your time is valuable. Use it well. 'Easy apply' on LinkedIn is easy...but not very effective, so don't be tempted. Focus on quality, not quantity, when it comes to applications Have you included the appropriate skills on your CV? Have you incorporated keywords chosen specifically for the targeted role? Keep in mind that an automated system is programmed to look for a list of words or phrases. The ATS has its list and and it doesn’t do nuance or subtlety. Use industry-specific keywords to show a good fit for the sector. It’s things like that which position you as an experienced specialist in your field Keep it simple ATS doesn’t like elaborate CVs with lots of bells, whistles, tables and fancy graphics. Keep your formatting simple. ATS doesn’t read everything. It doesn’t look into text boxes, tables, logos, headers and footers. So, for example, if you have your contact details wrapped up in a header, take them into the main body so they can be seen by ATS Use a top-to-bottom format rather than columns. ATS is programmed to look for certain information in certain places, so make it easy for ATS to find, otherwise, your content will get scrambled Use simple bullet points, white space and a professional-looking, clear font such as Calibri, Aptos or Lato If you use acronyms, such as 'I was a volunteer for WHO,' also write them out in full. ATS doesn’t always recognise these abbreviations. Instead, write something like – volunteer for WHO (World Health Organisation) Use CV sections and titles that are standard, such as Professional Experience or Key Skills. ATS will notice these and keep reading. When you write ‘Work Stuff’, it will skip past it and your important information could be missed For your profile, use the target job title, not 'Profile' or anything similar, as ATS will be looking to find that title and will use that in the job title box it populates from your CV. This is an essential point of keyword matching. And when a human reads your CV, they know exactly what role you are targeting Be professional If you have a fun but maybe not professional email address, change it to something more appropriate. Even if it is an email address that you just have for your job search Are your contact details correct? Of course they are, you type them all the time and you’d never make a simple typing mistake... Check these details, check them twice! In fact, triple-check your spelling throughout your CV. It is simple and quick to use an online spellchecker such as Grammarly or an in-built one such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs, but they don’t replace the human eye, so use them, but don’t rely on them. You won’t regret making certain by asking someone else to look it over. Then check it again yourself, word by word, line by line. A seemingly minor typo or spelling mistake, such as ‘Soles’ instead of ‘Sales’, isn’t always picked up and can not only demonstrate a lack of professionalism but also prevent your CV from getting past ATS because it didn’t include the keyword ‘Sales’. Rather important if you’re going for a sales role! And check formatting. Digital spellchecking won't notice if some of your bullets have full stops and others don't, or that your fonts are all consistent CV resume review sites like Jobscan can be useful to get a view of the ATS view and key skills. But I warn you, approach with caution, as they score on things like how often you repeat words from the job ad, which you would never see on a CV. They, of course, also want you to pay, but if you are smart, you can see the feedback for what it is and use the information to your advantage. So, play nice with ATS, work with it and it will be easy to navigate. Ignore it at your peril. And get AI to help you do the work. Drop a job description into an AI tool and ask it to extract the top 20 skills for you, then cross-reference this by running another prompt asking what the top 20 keywords are to tailor your CV for the role. That saves a huge amount of time and effort. You can go further and ask the AI tool to de-dupe those two lists and see which of the keywords are currently missing from your CV. Which means tailoring your CV to a role won't take hours every time you do it. If you’d like a professional review of your CV to check for ATS and human-reader compatibility, why not book a free call and let’s chat about how to make your CV work hard for you. Click ‘Book a call’ on the website for a free intro call or email me at  louise@careertherapy.co.uk You can get more info and top tips from  my other posts  on CVs, professional brand and careers.  What’s stopping you? Why not follow me for more confidence-boosting tips, tools and talks: LinkedIn   Louise Newton Instagram   @career_therapy_uk If you'd like to receive no-fluff, practical insights direct to your inbox, why not sign up for the twice-monthly   Career Therapy Newsletter ? It’s packed full of thoughtful career support grounded in years of coaching experience...and real life. Photo by Towfiqu Barbhuiya on Unsplash

The adage ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ has never been more true in the search for a job. I’m not talking about nepotism and unfair advantage; I’m talking about contacts, networking and referrals. We look at recommendations and ratings for what we buy, eat, watch and visit so isn’t it natural that we would do the same when we are looking for new employees? A headhunter friend told me, “We (recruiters) are either too busy or fundamentally lazy. Why would we spend time searching high and low when we can just ask someone for a recommendation?” I don’t think it’s laziness per se but it is a more time and cost-efficient way to get a result. But how do you access the so-called hidden job market and find out about jobs before they are advertised? And how do you get someone to refer you for a role, bumping you to the front of the queue? And why is it so important? In 2016, hiring expert and LinkedIn regular Lou Adler quoted survey data showing that 85% of jobs were filled by networking and that networking to secure a role beats applying directly by a ratio of 3:1. There is additional research that the #1 way people find a new job is through networking and referrals. So, it seems you are more likely to get a job through someone you know than applying cold or battling through opaque online algorithms. Of course, building networks and finding jobs is LinkedIn’s bread and butter so they would come out with a figure like this but other sources and my direct experience working with clients do back up the premise that securing a role through someone who knows you or of you is more likely than applying through a website. It’s less true for more junior or generic roles but very true the further up the career pyramid you climb. Add in the increasing use of ATS (applicant tracking software), keyword match driven assessment that many companies now use to scan and ‘read’ CVs, and there’s an even greater argument for getting your CV in front of an actual person – and a person who has some decision-making power or at least influence. With online applications you are playing a numbers game. If 500 people apply, how many will get a strong keyword match and make it through the first sift…100? 50? Let’s say 50. Out of those, less than half will make a more detailed sift and perhaps up to ten (but more likely five to eight) will have a first-round chat with a recruiter. Of those maybe three or four will invited for interview. The odds are constantly against you and – frustratingly – the selection criteria and sifting process are invisible. Dedicated keyword match websites such as Jobscan can help you identify the likely keywords (which is useful) but they can’t tell you which keywords have been programmed in to make those first and second sifts. So how do you boost your chances? With online applications, applying direct via a company’s website is one step closer than through an aggregator site (though not all companies put roles on their own sites). Even better is to find a recruiter and direct your application to a person. In my experience, most recruiters are active on LinkedIn and are happy to receive messages. They are busy and necessarily selective, so you have to be as equally selective as well as persistent, but it’s their job to find good talent and quickly, so make it easy for them to find top candidates and hit their targets. And remember, they get bombarded with approaches so don’t make them work for it, be targeted and make yours the type of message that recruiters love to see, where you clearly and concisely pitch your experience, skills and value. Imagine how many ‘I’d love to work for ABC Co. and would like to chat about roles. My CV is attached’ messages they get. And then imagine how welcome a message like this would be: ‘I’m a sales enablement specialist with over ten years’ experience supporting international tech sales, five of which were with Salesforce in B2B for enterprise customers. I’m known for my ability to cut through the noise, design effective roadmaps and for building high performing teams. I’m interested in X and Y roles. Can we connect to look at next steps?’ Much more likely to get a reply. Many job hunters are lazy or uninformed about what is needed in today’s market. They create one, generic CV, hop onto Indeed and LinkedIn and click the ‘easy apply’ button thinking that they’ve done enough. And they talk of applying for 100+ roles and wonder why they aren’t getting results. Tailoring your CV (and cover letter) is critical to showing you are a great match for the role – demonstrating that you’ve identified the key strengths, skills, experience and knowledge required then showcasing how you match the criteria. You are the one looking for a job, so the onus is on you to put the work in. I get asked how to ‘beat ATS’ or avoid hours spent tailoring CVs and rewriting cover letters but there isn’t a get out clause. How can you expect someone else to spend time looking to see if you’re a fit if you can’t take the time to show them? I appreciate that you might reach out to a lot of recruiters and hear nothing back (this is a reality) but being highly selective, doing your research thoroughly and creating the right type of message will give you an edge. The same is true of working directly with agency recruiters and headhunters. Why make their job any harder by not telling them exactly what you are looking for, why you are good at it and what you bring? Being clear, concise, relevant and targeted will make you stand out, will make their job easier and will achieve far better results. But there is another way. A way to avoid the ATS bots and all that time spent tailoring CVs and cover letters in the hope that they’ll be read. Sound interesting? It is, this route appeals to job seekers but, sorry, there’s still no free lunch. There is a price to pay with this approach and that price is putting yourself out there. Which, quite honestly, makes a lot of job hunters flinch. They cringe at the idea of asking for help from someone they are connected to on LinkedIn that they haven’t been in contact with for four years. I get that, trust me, I’ve been in your shoes. I’m not a natural connector but I did learn a critical trick – don’t ask for a job. Well, not directly. Say you’re in the market looking for X roles and ask their opinion on what is happening in their common field/market/sector. Ask if they’d be happy to suggest anyone they know who might be looking to hire. At the end of the day, people connect on LinkedIn to network and help others find connections and jobs so why not use LinkedIn for the very thing it’s there for? Why be embarrassed? Would you help someone if they asked you? If you’re cringing as you read this, perhaps ask yourself ‘why wouldn’t they help me?’ Some might not reply but some will. What harm can it do to ask and let people know you are in the market? Create a list of your connections, download your LinkedIn list (under Data and Privacy – it takes about 10 minutes for the download file to be ready) and map who you know and who they know. Create a set of template messages and start sending them out, reactivating contact and making new connections. Ten minutes a day isn’t a big investment of time and you’ll be surprised how many people you can approach on your target list with this small regular commitment. Use social media too to look for news on your target companies, find people and get updated on any opportunities. Join groups and follow hashtags on LinkedIn and Twitter and use Facebook, Instagram and your phone book contacts as a way to connect, search and let people know you’re looking. It’s not just former colleagues and professional contacts that should be on your list, family and friends know people too and would (one assumes) be happy to refer you. Let people know you are looking for a new opportunity and see what happens. There’s lots to consider here but rather than fighting the odds and crossing your fingers, why not employ a mixed approach that gives you more advantages? Blending your search is a good idea. Trust me, I’ve seen the evidence time and again. Create a mix of online applications, networking for referrals and direct targeting and you’ll have a much more powerful job search strategy. One that will bring you results. If you’d like help putting your strategy together, thinking about where and how to look – and how to make those approaches without cringing – then why not get in touch and see how I can help you? You might be surprised at how quickly a change in approach can yield results. Email louise@careertherapy.co.uk Linkedin Louise Newton Header photo Fabio Bracht on Unsplash Photo Sam Moghadam Khamseh on Unsplash

Are you an early bird or a night owl? Dancing at dawn or alive in the afternoon? Do you know why you hate morning meetings or prefer to be in before everyone else arrives? James McGirk, author of A Grand Theory of Everything, points out that we are all impacted by the effects of circadian rhythm, our internal, daily clock that is driven by hormones. His suggestion for being productive is to synchronise your activities with your hormone levels. And this works, mostly. But not always in the way he sets out. He suggests (testosterone high) mornings are good for “nervy, jumpy activity” when you “blast emails, pitch ideas and crank it out” which is all well and good, but, personally, I have never ‘cranked it out’ in the morning. As I wrote in my post Why getting up super early is a waste of time, not everyone works the same way and some of us do our ‘cranking’ after lunch. McGirk continues that from 1pm (cortisol levels falling) we should channel our “convivial, ebullient energy” into a meeting. Nope. Not for me. My afternoons are mine, precious time that I fiercely guard because it’s then that I am, in my own way, cranking it out. I’m not dismissing McGirk’s theory, I enjoy his writings and take on life, but I do challenge his assertion on what to do when. I’m not a scientist or doctor, but maybe his hormones work differently to mine? I surmise from his theory that he’s a morning person. Maybe my circadian rhythm dances to a different tune? What we both agree on is that finding your internal rhythm and working in harmony with it will make you sharper and more productive. The standard 9-5 working structure we are forced to fit into for much of our working life often clouds our knowledge of the right time for us to do things. Certainly, I became more conscious of my rhythm when I started to run my own business from home, but, looking back I’d known it subconsciously for a while and worked with it as much as the strictures of 9-5 would allow. You can do the same. Why bother? Because it will help you be more productive. Watch out for your slumps, the times of the day (or the week) when you struggle to get going, when times drags even if it’s an activity you enjoy. Note how long it takes you to do things and what you achieve – or not. And note your highs, the times when you are in the zone, powering through work or buzzing with ideas. How long do things take to do then? How satisfied do you feel with your contribution or output? Once you get a feel for your rhythm, block out time, move meetings (when you can) to another time of day and be more aware of how long things take to do. Get things you don’t like out of the way and make time for the more important things. How does this make you happier at work? 1 – When you match your activities to your rhythm, you need less time to do things = more productive = feeling less pressure 2 – Ticking items off your to do list = positive feeling sense of accomplishment = makes you more motivated Which makes you more confident in your career. Email louise@careertherapy.co.uk LinkedIn Louise Newton Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay #career #careercoach

Sometimes clients come to me because they are struggling at work, feeling like they’re not making progress, not getting on with people or feeling like they don’t fit in. Platitudes and empathy might help here, but there are times when you have to point out that one or all of the above are true. Not necessarily because of something the person is doing wrong or not doing at all, but because they are in the wrong place. Sometimes you have to accept you are a square peg in a round hole and move on. A conversation I’ve had time and again goes along the lines of: Me: “Yes, I see you are struggling. Can you think why that might be?” Client: “I don’t know but I just feel like I’m failing. I’ve tried and tried but it’s just not working.” Me: “Why do you think you are failing?” Client: “Well, (gives example) …” Me: “OK, but in that example I’m not hearing that you’re failing. I’m hearing something isn’t working so let’s explore that in a bit more detail…” After a while, what usually emerges isn’t that the client is failing but that they are in the wrong role or environment for their strengths, values, working style and sometimes for their expertise. It can happen. We take a turn or accept an invitation and end up in a place that wasn’t quite what we expected. But we are programmed to keep pushing, keep trying harder, keep trying to be good enough to make headway. My next question is: “Have you thought that maybe this isn’t the right role (or environment) for you to succeed in?” In short, maybe it’s them, not you. It can be a relief or distressing to make this realisation, or a combination of both. There’s usually recrimination about how they ended up there and what they did wrong but once we’ve worked through that and put it in perspective, there’s the question of ‘how do you get out’? And it’s important to accept that you may have to leave, that whatever you try, you cannot thrive where you are. I think about it like plants. Some like shade, some like sun and they’ll rarely do well in the wrong climate. Yes you can try, you can feed them and nurture them but at the end of the day, they might grow a bit but they just won’t flourish in the wrong environment. One thing I’ve always had is a feeling in my gut, an instinct for when something isn’t working or is the wrong decision. It took me years and some wrong turns to learn to trust it, but even when I’d chosen something and it wasn’t working, I learned to have the confidence to change. Not always straight away, but I embraced that my instinct was right and I made plans to change. Choice is important. Change is liberating. And I’m now prepared to choose me, to walk away and choose something else. Why? Because I know what I’m good at. And I know how and where I can thrive. Yes, there have been hard times. Yes, there have been times when I’ve had to stay in a role or company for practical or financial reasons. But acknowledging that you’re in the wrong role or place helps you feel like there is an exit. And, just so we are clear, it’s not because you’re failing. If you’ve tried everything you can and it still doesn’t work, maybe you need to accept it’s not you, it’s them. If you’d like help to move forward or gain some perspective on whether you’re in the right place to thrive, why not contact me and see where a session of career therapy can take you? What’s stopping you? Email  louise@careertherapy.co.uk Linkedin  Louise Newton Photo by  Natalia Y.  on  Unsplash #career #careercoach #careercoaching #coaching

Whether you call it persuasion, manipulation, development or influencing, a good people manager – in fact, anyone who works with people to get things done – needs to be able to change others’ behaviour, even if only temporarily. Demanding change rarely works. If it appears so, it’s done begrudgingly and inevitably will not last. That is the stick, forcing change with threats. What is far more effective is the carrot, enticing change with the promise of reward. But carrots are quite obvious and people are wily, knowing how to negotiate and ask for more (and more). Recently, these behavioural interventions have been made media-friendly with the name ‘nudging’, but going back as far simple carrots and sticks, any behavioural change hinges on making what you want appealing enough to induce a change in behaviour. Nudging is complex. Or Nudge Theory is it seems, on Wikipedia : “Nudge is a concept in behavioural science, political theory and behavioural economics which proposes positive reinforcement and indirect suggestions as ways to influence the behaviour and decision making of groups or individuals.” But, it’s not really. You probably do it already, but you just don’t realise it. Or see it as the hidden superpower it can be. “That’s great, that summary is so insightful” is positive reinforcement, feedback, acknowledging good work. Seems a basic behaviour to some of us, but to those who don’t receive it, it can feel like you’re sprinkling fairy dust. Not everyone is naturally enthusiastic or outgoing, but even a simple thank you can work wonders if it’s a phrase you don’t often hear. As for indirect suggestion, well that’s not difficult either: “I wonder if there’d be merit in pursuing a different angle here?” or “You’ve done great work there, that project has got real potential to develop.” Like dangling a carrot, indirect suggestion can take many forms because it relies on some undeniable truths of human behaviour: Peer pressure and the desire to conform to the group norm Unintentional laziness , which you can harness by changing default settings on ideas and practices like having to opt out rather than opt in Potential loss over saving. Research shows that people aren’t as motivated to save money as they are to avoid losing it Short-term awareness , connecting the carrot with a recent event (though this fades as time passes and needs to be refreshed, much like fashion) Playing the numbers to push bias – 5% fat content won’t sell as well as 95% fat free Over-confidence/selective belief , which keeps us buying lottery tickets though we statistically have a miniscule chance of winning Some clients are disturbed by the concept of manipulating the behaviour of others, but they relax when I explain that I always use such ‘power’ to do good. Even given those truths listed above, people are far more likely to change their mind and/or behaviour if they think it was their idea. That’s where, for people managers, the power sits. Indirect suggestion is a fundamental tool in coaching, an approach all good people managers should be able to use. Asking questions to direct thinking, pushing for self-realisation all get better results than just telling someone the answer. If you’d like to be a better people manager and develop your powers for good, why not get in touch and see how to polish up or develop your career-enhancing skills. Email louise@careertherapy.co.uk LinkedIn Louise Newton Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash #behaviour #behaviouralchange #career #careercoach